From Jon: This is Indian Pipe, Ghost Flower, Ghost Plant. Monotropa uniflora. When first seen, Indian Pipe seems more like a mushroom or other fungus than like a true flowering plant due to the color – or lack of color. However, it has a stem, bract-like scales in place of leaves, and a single flower at the end of the stem. The single flower gives it the species epithet – uniflora – Indian Pipe has roots through which it gathers its nourishment. The plant lacks chlorophyll but instead gets its nutrients through a mutually beneficial relationship with a fungus in the soil where it grows or is considered . parasitic on a fungus that is in a “mycorrhizal” relationship with a tree.